Again, a political hiccup in South East Asia...this time
between Indonesia and Singapore.
As we all have probably heard about it, Singapore has called
the Indonesian government as being insensitive for naming its patrol ship KRI
Usman Harun. Usman and Harun were both convicted for bombing the MacDonald
House in Singapore during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in the 60s
causing death to 3 Singaporeans and left 33 injured.
As we all can
probably recall, the grand idea between this confrontation is Indonesia's
(particularly President Soekarno) accusation towards Malaysia for being the
British puppet. The MacDonald House in the Orchard Road was back then served as
a house for British, American and Australian company... the neo-colonialism
boss. Now here comes the twist, KRI Usman Harun was British-made and yep we
bought it from Britain. ( I feel obliged to giggle at the Indonesian government
now..)
I wonder how do Usman and Harun feel if they witness this...
Aside from that story, what I wanted to tell was really how
much I fall in love with International Relations class. Being an exchange
student, I am being experimental by taking classes from other departments,
economics and communication. Occassionally, I sit-in at other classes and this
time I was in Singapore Foreign Policy in the Southeast Asia.
Completing my 5th semester I felt like I got bored with
International Relations class for their ngawang-ngawang-ness. Well I guess, I
wasn't bored at all. Instead, I was just too amused by its complexity and
eventually got overwhelmed with it. During my 5 semester in HI UI, attending
classes has been an inspiring experiences, especially when my lecturer started
the narratives. Their story is always full of drama and emotion, making it very
exciting to be heard. As for now, we witness another drama between this two
neighbours (remember when PM Lee Kuan Yew did the tabur bunga in Usman Harun
graveyards? totally dramatic! ) and just like a normal life, you quarrel the
most with your closest one. So, I guess.. a "working" crisis
management is really what the ASEAN needs.
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